Star Trek: Picard season 1 is out on Blu-ray, limited edition Steelbook, and DVD. The CBS All-Access series introduced many new characters into the Star Trek universe and one of the most fascinating is former Starfleet Lt. Commander Raffi Musiker, played by Michelle Hurd. Raffi was revealed to be the former First Officer and close friend of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) but they had a bitter falling out when Star Trek: Picard season 1 picked up their story.
Raffi is a unique and intriguing new Star Trek character. Initially isolated and disillusioned with Starfleet and Picard, Raffi is pulled back into space when she joins Jean-Luc's mission to find Soji (Isa Briones), the synthetic daughter of the late Commander Data (Brent Spiner). While Raffi is nursing a substance addiction and her anger at being ostracized from Starfleet because of Picard, she becomes an important part of the Starfleet legend's new quest, which resulted in the ragtag crew of the starship La Sirena saving the galaxy from an ancient synthetic threat coming from beyond the galaxy. In addition, Raffi learned that she was right all along that a Romulan conspiracy led by Starfleet's Director of Security, Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita), was behind the Mars Attack 14 years before the events of Star Trek: Picard season 1.
Screen Rant had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Hurd and we delved in-depth about Raffi's personal journey, her surprising romantic pairing with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), the importance of representation in Star Trek, and what it's like working with the legendary Sir Patrick Stewart.
First of all, I'm a huge fan of Star Trek: Picard. I'm so excited to be here on Planet Raffi right now.
Michelle Hurd: Thank you! All things are good on Planet Raffi.
One of my favorite things about Raffi is that at the end [of Star Trek: Picard season 1] she was vindicated. They should make "Raffi Was Right!" shirts. She was totally right about the Romulan conspiracy. How do you think being ultimately right makes her feel? What's her next step now that the last 15 years was about something real and she can prove it?
Michelle Hurd: That's a great question. Raffi, as we know, is a really complex creature. She struggles a lot. Her journey is really challenging because of the things she puts on herself. The regrets that she's had over the choices that she's made, what she's done with her child and with her family. With her addictions, with relying on people who she feels betrayed her. So her brain is forever searching... "Where is the truth, where is the lie? How do I navigate this world?"
So she is vindicated but her wounds are much deeper than just a single vindication. It's almost like it validates the fact that she knew something was wrong, nobody believed her, and she believed in herself but she started to doubt where she put her trust. And that's why she was always using her drink and addictions to calm her brain from tumbling down a conspiracy theory hole. So now that she's vindicated, it's a celebration in one way, but it's also this call to arms that, "I do know things! I do know! I do have my finger on the pulse of what is happening. People need to hear what I have to say." And it gives her more strength to say, "Good! Check! Now we've done that. I've got a couple of other things that we need to look at."
Do think in season 2 that Starfleet is out of the question for her? Could she ever return? Is that something she even wants at this point?
Michelle Hurd: That's a really good one too because she was betrayed by Starfleet. Of course, in that moment, she felt by Picard because she had really relied on him, and when he decided to resign that was just a huge blow. Because "You're Picard! You make the impossible possible!" So those two elements are what broke her heart and was a betrayal.
She healed with Picard, right? Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to continue this journey with him. And she really does love him. He's more of a savior, a teacher, a mentor, a father, a brother, a lover - he's a lot to her in her head. So that is healing. So now what happened with Starfleet coming in at the end and helping us, I think it's going to be interesting to see how she weighs that. Does she weigh them the same as she weighed Picard? Because she's kind of forgiven him so does she forgive them as well?
So I think it'll be interesting how she'll rectify that. Is it like an ex-lover where you're constantly wishing them ill and hope that they hurt? [laughs] Not that I do that! Or do you come to a place of maturity and realize that they understood their misgivings as well and have made up for what she felt was the ills of the past. So I think it'll be really interesting, and that's an interesting thing for someone like Raffi to balance. Can she forgive, can she move forward within herself in order to do that? It's always yourself, that's always the sort of battle she has.
In episode 5, you and Raffi had one of the most heartbreaking moments of the whole season when she met her son [Gabriel Hwang played by Mason Gooding]. He had a Romulan wife who was pregnant and he just shut [Raffi] out. Can you speak about that scene? Do you think there's hope for Raffi and her son, or is she just going to say, "I've got to move on?"
Michelle Hurd: I loved that moment, I really did. It worked on so many different levels. One of the things I thought was so beautiful is that it's a story that a lot of the world knows. A lot of people have dealt with people who have different kinds of addictions, different kinds of absences that make them not present in the world, with their loved ones and with themselves. And I thought what was so painful but what was so important was that Raffi thought it was time for her to come back into his life. Sort of, "I'm ready! I found you." But if you think about it, though, she found him circuitously. She was looking for something else and then he popped up in her purview. So she wasn't actually looking for him, right? She wasn't actually in that place where "I'm now ready to find my family." She was doing this other thing.
And if you think about what happens right afterward, she tumbles right back. She drinks, she's not sober. She's actually not well. And I thought that with the son... because kids, partners, whoever's with that person who's having an addiction, they have every right to have their voices heard and respected. And I thought that was a powerful thing for us to say, that when somebody has felt betrayed, felt let down by people with addictions, they also have the right to say "No. No. Just because you feel you're ready doesn't mean I'm ready." And I really thought that it was a huge lesson for Raffi to learn. Because truthfully, if he had just said yes and welcomed her back, I don't know how much she would have grown. It would have been like "I went away, I came back, you let me in your life, and great!" I don't think I would have changed any of my actions. By him saying no to her, she really has to do some really deep dives and really understand what she did and be accountable for her actions. And what happens oftentimes with addictions is you tumble back down, you hit a rock bottom so that you can rise like a phoenix.
So it was a painful scene and the thought of not seeing your child for so long, and finally seeing them, and all you want to do is hug and squeeze and tell them you love them. And you can tell that the person doesn't want you to touch them. And you're like, "Okay, I have to be respectful. I have to inch by inch see if I can get there." And to have them say "No! No!" And this is your grandchild. "No! No!" It's so harsh and brutal, but it's the brutality of a deep, deep love that you have to do in order to get the real, pure, truthful love. Like she said to [Cristobal] Rios, "How long have you known me? Did you even know I had a child? Not only do I have a child, my child is married and about to have another child. You didn't know anything about me and my world. I didn't share what, which is my burden." So she realized that now and we shall she how she grows and learns from that.
And I always say she's 'perfectly imperfect' as we all are, and the thing I love about that is there is growth. We have growth. If you say you're perfect then life's journey is done. When you acknowledge that you're imperfect then the world is your oyster and the path to life and learning and the hunger of really living is boundless.
I also have to ask about Seven of Nine and that scene at the very end of the season. Now did you know that was coming [that Seven and Raffi ended up together]? Was that a surprise for you as well? Because a lot of tongues were wagging at the end of that season. When I rewatched episode 5 and there was a little interaction between Seven and Raffi, it's kind of there. I can see it but you wouldn't know it at first.
Michelle Hurd: Right? Because I'm literally just telling her that I respect what she's done and it's a very innocent and honest interaction. I just acknowledge that I think she's a pretty cool Ranger, you know? If you think about it, it does kind of track well because these two individuals have been part of a community and then excised and shunned, and they're trying to get back to where they feel that they can be proud of their actions. Both really intelligent, strong women. And I'm sorry, but Seven of Nine! Hello! Is there really a question? If she were in front of anybody - just saying! [laughs]
Did you know that was coming or was that a surprise when you read the script?
Michelle Hurd: We kind of knew it was coming. Our writers are so phenomenal. The whole world of Star Trek is that all of our writers and producers and everyone involved is receptive to the world, right? To what's happening in the world, and what's happening to that, and they put it in the scripts. And I will say that we were all at a comic con and Jeri [Ryan] and I were just hanging out, and one of our cast members took a picture of us. We were both looking good, whatever, and [the photo] goes back to our producers and writers and literally, you could just see them looking at that picture and they were like [makes whispering sounds]. It just made them go, "Wait! This could be a possibility". So they sort of floated it to us and we were like, "all good!"
And that changes the trajectory of both characters. It's a huge thing. And that's another aspect of representation, which is one of the things that Star Trek: Picard does so well. If you look at the cast photo, that's the world represented right there.
Michelle Hurd: What I also loved is my nephew watched the show at one point and said, "Wait, so what does that mean? Does that mean Raffi is gay?" and this or that, and wouldn't it just be wonderful if we got to a place where it's not about labels at all? It's about interactions with people and allowing yourself to take someone in fully regardless of what they look like, what shades they are, whether they're Borg or not, whether they're man or woman. Whatever! It's the life force that the people interact with and are drawn to each other, and that's what we embrace. Raffi has a son so you know that she had been with a man but there's some form of fluidity that I would love our world to sort of calm down and embrace.
That every single person walking down the street can see another individual and appreciate that form, that energy, that aura. And who cares what the title is, what the sex is, or whatever? If that heart pulls you and draws you and makes you feel alive, then go to that heart! Go to that heart! It doesn't matter what title it is. I am very excited about that concept because I would just love... especially since we have the opportunity to be talking about a story in the future Star Trek world, that perhaps in the future, we've gotten to a place where it's not judged, it's not discriminated against or pointed out, it's a fluid embrace of love and life and hope and possibility. So that's what I'm hoping. Wouldn't that be beautiful?
Yes, and that's what Star Trek's future is, what we should be aspiring towards: humanity. Just who we are as people and trying to better ourselves and each other.
Michelle Hurd: Yes, exactly! Exactly! Better ourselves and each other.
I've got to ask you about Patrick Stewart. "SPS". You work with one of the greats. What's the most surprising thing about working with him? What weren't you expecting at all and all of a sudden you're on set with this guy and you're like, "What?" I heard he likes Beavis and Butt-Head. Is that true?
Michelle Hurd: You know, I think it's that sort of stuff. He's really self-deprecating and funny. The group that he has are young actors and we know him as "Sir Patrick Stewart". I watched his movies, I've seen him on stage, and you have that sort of reverence for him. And as soon as you meet him, you're like, "I'm meeting Sir. Patrick. Stewart." And you bow, right? And he comes in so generous, he's so loving, he's really funny, he's very very obsessed with the ensemble - all of us. Including crew, everybody, we're all creating this together. But he's so smart and so respectful of fans. He'll stop a scene and be like [in British accent], "No! This is not right! They will know this. We cannot do this."
And everything stops and they have to redo things because he knows that we have to give them what they expect of us. And the intelligence and the intrigue that a Star Trek fan invests in us, and I love that. And the parts that I can't actually tell you all... but the times we're sitting in our chairs in between scenes and he'll just start telling stories of things that have happened, and I swear to God, we're all just sitting there going, "Wait. Wait. What did you just say? You did that?" I can't say all this stuff. But he's so human and so passionate, and funny, and just a kind, courageous, brave man, and he elevates the set.
I always joke that going to comic con is a beautiful thing but going to comic con with Patrick Stewart -- the seas part! It's an amazing experience. We had the beautiful opportunity for all of our premieres to go to all the different comic cons in London, Paris, Brazil, Italy, and all of these places, and the love and respect that people have for him... There was one moment when we were in Italy and we were in this beautiful old traditional theater with boxed seats and velvet seat covers. And Patrick said [in British accent], "I'm fighting the urge as I stand on this stage to not break into Shakespeare! But I've decided to no longer fight it." And he stood up and we all went [screams] and then silence, [you could hear] a pin drop. This entire theatre went completely silent as he recited a sonnet. It's moments like that where you just go [fangirls]. Amazing! He's great.
Star Trek: Picard is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.